1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to education devices, and in particular to education devices where self-study is performed over a range of educational subjects.
2. Background--Description of Related Art
The present invention is a mobile learning laboratory that meets the needs of various people to educate or retrain in diverse disciplines, primarily through self-study. The United States government through analysis of the education and training needs of U.S. citizens in multiple areas has determined that these needs warrant government support through grants in: (1) the self-education of military and other personnel in remote locations; (2) the self-directed re-education of inmates in prisons; (3) the self-sufficiency in computing technologies for U.S. personnel in foreign locations; (4) flexible learning environments for the needs of special education students; (5) the U.S. Department of Education's focus on self-paced learning programs that re-train teachers; (6) for self-directed technology learning programs for students in schools.
The government's consensus across diverse agencies, on the serious need for an effective means of self-directed training, experiential learning, and re-education, indicates the seriousness of the problem to be solved; as is evident in national educational and technology development performance figures contrasted with the performance figures of other nations.
A diversity of inventions and programs have been suggested, attempted, and patented, but they have made no provision for experiential learning and self-directed learning. Most of the proposed solutions to meet this central problem are not adaptable to teaching anything other than a single subject (versus multiple subjects); have technology focused on test-taking and scoring only; and are not designed to be self-instructed without a teacher.
The essential problem of effective self-directed training, experiential learning, and re-education has several sub-issues to be addressed. There is a need for a learning lab:
(1) That is mobile, usable anywhere, and expandable--adjustable work areas and mobility to surmount the barriers of traditional 4-walled learning laboratories or classrooms in schools and businesses cost $100. per square foot with a room typically being 15.times.30 feet and costing $45,000.
(2) That requires no setup and is permanently pre-configured--eliminating installation or set-up.
(3) That has physical equipment and consumables for complex investigation--onboard and accessible.
(4) That allows learning of complex subjects and multiplicity of subjects--with updating and revising of learning materials from a distance without disturbing the self-directed student.
(5) That can be used by expert and inexpert youths or adults without computer skills--needing no prior computer skills, having users learn through doing.
(6) That requires no teacher--can be self-taught or used with other people, utilizing hands-on exploration methods of scientific, mechanical, or conceptual analysis, at the pace of the individual learner/user.
(7) That improves confidence and ability of non-technical, non-academic learners--utilizes multi-sensory learning by applying more interactive use of students' senses and hands-on skills.
(8) That provides ongoing support for the students/users--that provides communication access that exceeds mere downloading of information, and has a telephone help line.
(9) That monitors itself--to provide feedback concerning its operation.
An example in-depth of one aspect of this problem to be solved has been extensively documented in the area of education for both re-educating teachers as well as educating students. The following information, in pan gathered for the U.S. Department of Education, again proves the need for self-directed technology learning programs for students in schools.
There are not enough trained teachers and not enough practical, experiential learning resources
There are two specific areas of need: 1) the ability of science teachers to apply effective instructional methodologies to comply with the requirements of the new curriculum and 2) the ability to provide appropriate technology to enable students and teachers to explore vast areas of problem solving in the area of science.
According to the National Science Board, students "who have progressed through our Nation's school systems should be able to use both the knowledge and products of science, mathematics and technology in their thinking, their lives, and their work" (1983). Achievement of students of ages 9, 13 and 17 in knowledge of scientific facts, understanding of simple scientific principles, application of basic scientific information, analyzing scientific procedures and data, and integrating specialized scientific information show that much remediation is needed to achieve this goal. Of the five areas tested, students of all ages scored up to 93 percentage points lower in applying basic scientific information, analyzing scientific procedures and data, and integrating specialized information than in knowledge of scientific facts (Science and Engineering Indicators, 1991).
Fewer than 40 percent of public school eighth graders in the United States in mathematics and science classes have any access to microcomputers (NELS:88).
In one state that deals with many at-risk students, North Carolina, most science learning leaves out the participatory, problem solving and discovery activities that characterize science and technology, and motivate students to make the effort to understand these subjects.
Teachers spend little time on subjects they are uncomfortable with
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) reported that elementary teachers spend only 19 percent of the instructional time in science on hands-on activities. Middle school science teachers spend 23 percent of their instructional time on hands-on activities and high school science teachers just 9 percent (1990).
Student test scores in science in the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County middle schools, grades six and eight, rank last of all four core academic subjects. Also, more students at the middle grade level are reported to receive below average and failing grades in science than in any of the other core academic subjects.
Current instructional strategies and tools are not enabling our students to achieve.
Students are expected to achieve certain state mandated competencies in the middle grades. Current 5th graders in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County will be expected to demonstrate these competencies upon exiting the 8th grade. These competencies are as follows: 1) understand important issues of a technology based society and exhibit ethical behavior in the use of technology, 2) demonstrate knowledge and skills using computer technology, and 3) use a variety of technologies to access, analyze, interpret, synthesize, apply and communicate information. (see page 5, "School Level Strands Guide" for more specific grade level information). The only time dedicated to these competencies currently is a six week keyboarding course delivered to sixth graders.
Teachers need help--present teacher training does not prepare teachers to teach state mandated curricula.
The dilemma of lack of teacher training in technology is coupled with an even greater problem in middle grades science. Teachers are expected to utilize a new process oriented curriculum, but they are not trained nor are they comfortable in doing so. The State Department of Public Instruction and local education agencies have recognized this fact and agree that the greatest needs in implementing the new science curriculum will be: 1) to increase student access to effective instructional methodologies to comply with national standards and the new state curriculum for science and 2) to provide appropriate technology to enable students and teachers to explore science curriculum through problem solving.
There have been numerous techniques and electronic apparatus devised to aid people in learning, but these have proved to have severe drawbacks in terms of not aiding experiential learning, in not being pre-configured or easily set-up, for not functioning without a teacher, and having limitations in the range of subjects that can be learned.
In order to provide background information so that the invention may be completely understood and appreciated in its proper context, reference is made to a number of prior art patents as follows:
Several techniques have been devised for enabling a teacher more easily to convey information and understanding to a class. The techniques have been limiting in that interaction between the student and the teacher may be limited to test-taking and scoring, e.g. responses to multiple-choice type questions, or questions requiring simple numerical answers.
Examples of such techniques include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,243; U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,935; U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,929; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,354. This last U.S. patent also provides the teacher with a readout of the percentage of students answering a question correctly, but does not provide a vehicle for further discussion and exploration of concepts which appear to be difficult to grasp.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,491 also discloses a system where a teacher can monitor class feedback. Other objectives of the system are to automate quizzes, grade homework, and keep class attendance rolls and other routine paperwork. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,491 aims to provide some student instruction, but only in the form of computer based instructional exercises. Other, non-computer based learning is not provided.
Other proposed systems have taken advantage of advances in technology to interconnect a number of students, for purposes of gathering information, or facilitating access to instructional programs. One example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,174, which enables students to download instructional programs from a central computer, which acts as a sort of file server.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,717, which discloses networking structure for connecting conventional personal computers. This approach is directed more toward providing, at a central location, an instructional program which may be downloaded locally so that students can learn various types of computer programs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,120 describes a student response system, that is intended to collect data of a limited nature (e.g. responses to multiple-choice questions) from a number of classrooms. There is no provision for experiential learning. This feature is also absent from the other U.S. patents mentioned above.
Other computer-based teacher aids aim to provide systems where the teacher can selectively view or control a student's own individual monitor or viewing screen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,240, which particularly relates to the training of students to use computers, gives the teacher the ability to show the contents of the teacher's own monitor on each student's individual monitor or screen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,818 also discloses a similar approach, with the ability in addition, to selectively view the contents of a student's screen at the teacher's work station. Neither of these U.S. patents makes provision for the use of other teaching devices or apparatus.
None of the U.S. Patents mentioned above contain provision for mobility, address the issues that teachers voice about the seeming complexity of set-up for such multiple connected devices, or provide systems aimed at use by unskilled teachers and students.
Some U.S. patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,568, do address these issues in the classroom. U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,568 discloses a modular teaching and demonstrating cabinet, used to teach and demonstrate electrical principles and operations. This system is portable and self-contained, so it can be taken to where it is needed, and pre-wired, to reduce the inconvenience of repeated apparatus setup during a school day. It is only suited to teaching wiring principles and operations, and does not make provision for the teaching of other subjects.
Whatever the precise merits, features and advantages of the above cited references, none of them achieves or fulfills the purposes of the present invention.
It would be desirable to have a scheme that could respond to a wider range of subjects, that is designed to be self-instructing without a teacher. There are special-purpose inventions but they are not adaptable to teaching anything else, such as multiple subjects. Most of the previously-cited patents are for systems that only offer computer-based based instruction, that do not facilitate the exploration of concepts that ,are complex or difficult to grasp.
It follows that there is a need for an invention that provides an instructional platform that exceeds mere computer-scoring and test-taking methods. There is a need for a mobile learning laboratory equipped for exploratory and experiential learning that is pre-configured, eliminating installation. There is a need for a learning laboratory that has physical equipment and consumables for complex investigation and that requires no teacher and can be can be used by individuals or with groups. There is a need for a learning laboratory that provides access to remote library resources, and gives operational feedback.
In summary, it is desirable to have an invention which monitors pieces of equipment integrated in an entire unit directed by the individual learner, and suitable for the multi-sensory learner, is mobile, is pre-configured for easy set-up and addresses the needs of unskilled teachers and students who benefit from self-directed study.